Almost all volunteers take too much stuff with them. We're Americans. We're taught that stuff makes life easier and more productive and fun. So when packing up for Asia or Africa or Latin America for two years--which seems like a long time at the outset--almost all of us pack gigantic bags. You shouldn't.

Take for example my $140 waterproof gortex L.L. Bean hiking books purchased two months before my departure for Nepal. Peace Corps had sent me a guide called "Namaste" with advice for the soon-to-be volunteer, including a list of what I should pack. Hiking boots were on the list. Nepal is a very mountainous country, and I didn't want to arrive unprepared. Where I finally arrived, however, was a village where the wealthiest 10% of people wore very cheap sneakers, the middle 50% wore flip-flops, and the poorest 40% went barefoot. My $140 hiking boots attracted a lot of stares. Every single person I met or even passed walking by stopped to ask me where I had bought them and how much they had cost. I lied about the price because it was more money than most Nepali people see in an entire year. I felt so self-conscious in these boots that I left them in Katmandu after wearing them only twice. I bought a pair of cheap sneakers. If I were to do it all over again, I would go to Nepal with one pair of good sandals.

I don't know where you'll end up. Not every Peace Corps assignment is in a place where people can't afford shoes. But some volunteers do land in the very poorest places on this earth. If you do, showing up with your Sony Discman and CD collection, your designer watch, your cameras, your ten changes of clothing, your laptop computer, and your L.L. Bean hiking boots isn't going to help you very much. Almost certainly something will get stolen. Even more certainly people will think you are a millionaire and will interact with you as such.

The Other Side Of The Coin

So five years later, when I got on the plane for Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic, I thought that I knew everything about being a volunteer. I packed light. I had a backpack the size most people would take on a day hiking trip, and my guitar. That's all that I had. Even the staff people sent by Peace Corps to Miami for our staging were kind of amazed.

The Dominican families I stayed with during training and when I got to my site were also amazed. They thought I was really poor. In the Dominican Republic it's important to have expensive clothes and to look fashionable. A lot of the volunteers in my group were rather surprised by this, because we had imagined ourselves helping impoverished people with rags for clothes. Instead, Christina who was assigned to La Romana told me her first day of work was, "Like walking into a Benneton ad." Before swearing in, I went shopping in Santo Domingo, and bought a new pair of shoes.

When this story was posted in February 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:

The Peace Corps LibraryPeace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 27,000 index entries in 430 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related stories in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can use the Main Index to find hundreds of stories about what RPCVs with your same interests or from your Country of Service are doing today.

Bush's FY06 Budget for the Peace CorpsThe White House is proposing $345 Million for the Peace Corps for FY06 - a $27.7 Million (8.7%) increase that would allow at least two new posts and maintain the existing number of volunteers at approximately 7,700. Bush's 2002 proposal to double the Peace Corps to 14,000 volunteers appears to have been forgotten. The proposed budget still needs to be approved by Congress.

Ask NotAs our country prepares for the inauguration of a President, we remember one of the greatest speeches of the 20th century and how his words inspired us. "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man."

Latest: RPCVs and Peace Corps provide aid Peace Corps made an appeal last week to all Thailand RPCV's to consider serving again through the Crisis Corps and more than 30 RPCVs have responded so far. RPCVs: Read what an RPCV-led NGO is doing about the crisis an how one RPCV is headed for Sri Lanka to help a nation he grew to love. Question: Is Crisis Corps going to send RPCVs to India, Indonesia and nine other countries that need help?

The World's Broken Promise to our ChildrenFormer Director Carol Bellamy, now head of Unicef, says that the appalling conditions endured today by half the world's children speak to a broken promise. Too many governments are doing worse than neglecting children -- they are making deliberate, informed choices that hurt children. Read her op-ed and Unicef's report on the State of the World's Children 2005.

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Story Source: Personal Web Site

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Nepal; Packing - Nepal

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